Just a friendly? This is serious says Sven

With the new season just days old Sven-Goran Eriksson has an early chance to put his recent fun and games behind him and restore some of his credibility as England coach.

The team he has selected to face Ukraine tonight hints at his World Cup planning and may be the side he picks to play Austria and Poland in the qualifiers next month.

He will be without Paul Scholes, who has retired from international football, and, in all probability, the injured Wayne Rooney and Sol Campbell for both qualifiers. Their absence makes tonight's friendly critical to Eriksson's World Cup preparations.

The fact he will also be without the suspended Rio Ferdinand for the opening two World Cup games will be an added incentive when Tottenham's Ledley King and Chelsea's John Terry face the predatory Andriy Shevchenko tonight.

Alan Smith gets an opportunity to partner Michael Owen while Scholes's retirement gives Frank Lampard a chance to excel in his favoured position behind the front two.

Ukraine haven't won a match for more than a year and new coach Oleg Blokhin, the 1975 European Footballer of the Year, has done little to improve matters.